Wind Gap Man, 37, Found Not Guilty Of Role In Burglary

September 13, 1985|The Morning Call

A Northampton County jury deliberated about two hours yesterday before acquitting a Wind Gap man on charges stemming from the burglary of a Wilson home last May.

The jury returned the verdicts on Michael Jon Hoagland, 37, of 6612 Sullivan Trail, Wind Gap, at 2:30 p.m. He was found not guilty of two counts of receiving stolen property, and one count each of burglary, theft and conspiracy.

Hoagland was returned to Bucks County Prison, where he is awaiting trial on other charges.

He was lodged in Lehigh County Prison, rather than the Northampton County facility, during the two-day trial before Northampton County Judge Michael V. Franciosa. Thataction was taken as a precaution because the main witness against Hoagland, Jeffrey Kukor, also charged in the burglary, is in Northampton County Prison.

Kukor testified Wednesday that he committed the burglary in the 2400 block of Lincoln Street on May 30-31. But he said Hoagland, then a participant in the work release program at Lehigh County Prison, set the burglary up, fenced the stolen articles, and paid him in cash and methamphetamines.

Hoagland denied that, saying that although he once gave Kukor a ride, he later threw him off his mother's property in Wind Gap and told him to stay away from him.

"He's making a deal with police and the District Attorney's office to go light on him," Baratta charged. "The system is being used by Jeffrey Kukor for his own benefit."

Commenting on Kukor's story that he walked from his residence in Easton to the burglary scene, ransacked the house and then walked to a pay telephone to get a ride, Baratta said, "I suggest he was brought to that house, did his dirty deed, and was picked up at the house by someone as yet unidentified."

Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Englesson, who prosecuted the case, said, "You heard one set of facts from the Commonwealth witnesses, and an entirely different set from the defendant. I suggest someone in this trial is not being truthful.

"I told you at the beginning of the trial that Jeffrey Kukor is a criminal. We know who did this burglary. It was Jeffrey Kukor. So why go after Michael Hoagland?

"He says Trooper (Anthony) Vannicola wanted to get him," Englesson said. "But apparently someone already had. He was sitting in prison." Baratta objected to that comment, and Judge Franciosa ordered the jurors to disregard the statement. A defendant's criminal history may not be brought up at trial.

Judge Franciosa also ordered the jurors to disregard Englesson's questioning of why Hoagland's mother, the employer for whom he was to work while on work release from Lehigh County Prison, did not appear to testify in her son's behalf. In a trial, the commonwealth, not the defendant, bears the burden of proof, and the defendant need not call any witnesses at all, or even take the stand himself.